“I believe this photo of Jay (a droite) is the most stunning and strikingly clear representation, of any photo ever taken, of modern skateboarding. It contains all the elements that make up what modern-day skateboarding has become: awesome aggression and style, power and fury, wild abandon, destruction of all fear, untamed individualism, and a free-spirited determination to tear, shred, and rip relentlessly. Jay should’ve had it all, and it makes me so sad that he didn’t.”

Stacy Peralta

“Some kids are born and raised on like, graham crackers and milk– Jay was born and raised on surfing and skateboarding, you know.”

Tony Alva

“Jay Adams may not have been the world’s best skater, but he was the man, the real deal, the original, the first. He is the archetype of our shared heritage.”

Stacy Peralta

“For me, skateboarding started in 1965, so by the time the Dogtown era came around I’d already been skatin’ for 10 years. When I started it was clay wheels and mostly home made decks. We were just trying to copy surfing. Everything about skateboarding had to do with surfing. It was all about fun and a way to surf when the waves were shitty.”

Jay Adams

“In contests, Jay was simply the most exciting skater to watch. He never skated the same run the same way twice. His routines were wickedly random yet exceedingly tight and beautiful to watch: he even invented tricks during his runs. I’ve never seen any skater destroy convention and expectation better. Watching him skate was something new every second– he was “skate and destroy” personified.”

Stacy Peralta

“He (Jay Adams) didn’t give a shit about money, and I don’t think that’s why he did it to begin with. He never was interested in any of the material rewards that came from skateboarding. I think that he just basically had a total Fuck You approach to the whole commercialism of skateboarding.”

Tony Alva

“Jay Adams was not the greatest pool skater, nor was he the greatest bank skater, or the greatest slalom skater or the greatest freestyler. The fact is, Jay Adams’ contribution to skateboarding defies description or category. Jay Adams is probably not the greatest skater of all time, but I can say without fear of being wrong that he is clearly the archetype of modern-day skateboarding. Archetype defined means an original pattern or model, a prototype. Prototype defined means the first thing or being of its kind. He’s the real thing, an original seed, the original virus that infected all of us. He was beyond comparison. To this day I haven’t witnessed any skater more vital, more dynamic, more fun to watch, more unpredictable, and more spontaneous in his approach than Jay. There are not enough superlatives to describe him.”

Stacy Peralta

“People just wanted to have what he (Jay Adams) had, you know? They just wanted a piece of him. “

Jeff Ho

“I missed a lot of good times, doing things that I shouldn’t have been doing. There are certain mistakes I’d like to change, but I’m not going to trip on it to hard.”